"Meng Zhiqing, are you ready? It's time to gather!"
Outside the dormitory for female educated youth, someone was calling Meng Yinyin's name, urging her to hurry up.
Meng Yinyin had just opened the lid of the vanishing cream. When she heard the words, her hands shook and the bottle almost fell to the ground. Fortunately, she caught it with her hands quickly.
"Coming, coming, I'll be right out!"
Because of the tight time and people waiting outside, she could only hurriedly use her index finger to scrape a circle of vanishing cream on her cheek. After hesitating for a moment, her eyes fell on her arms, which were much rougher than before she went to the countryside. Finally, she ruthlessly scraped another small layer on her arms.
If she didn't apply it, her arms would probably become dry and stinging again tonight - this was a painful lesson she learned the hard way when she tried to save the last bottle of vanishing cream by not applying it on her arms.
She understood the logic, but looking at the empty bottle, she couldn't help but feel a little sad.
Half a month ago, Meng Yinyin would never have dreamed that one day she would go from being a spoiled young lady who grew up in a honey pot to being reduced to this state, where she had to be stingy even with her vanishing cream!
Clearly, she was still the darling of her parents half a month ago, but unfortunately, everything changed on that day.
Because my mother's family had overseas connections, they were reported by a villain, which led to my father's position as a university professor being stripped. Not only that, he was also labeled as a "□□", and both he and his wife were demoted.
Meng Yinyin was the couple's most beloved daughter, so naturally they didn't want her to be sent down with them to suffer. So they used their last bit of connections to stuff Meng Yinyin into a group of educated youth going to the countryside overnight and sent her to the countryside.
Rather than saying that she was sent here as an educated youth, it would be more accurate to say that she was allowed to seek refuge.
Although they knew very well that their little daughter had hardly even washed dishes since she was born, let alone doing farm work, and that going to the countryside would be an absolute torture for her, the situation was such that the couple had no choice but to resort to this last resort in order to prevent her from suffering more.
As for the eldest son, there is no need to worry. The child is in the army and is deeply appreciated by the leaders, so it will not affect him in any way.
So just like that, Meng Yinyin had just had a nap when her parents stuffed her on a train. Then, after a long journey of three days and three nights, she arrived at a place called Nanjiao Brigade to work as an educated youth.
Meng Yinyin cried on the first day she came here.
The simple living conditions, the mosquitoes and rats that were rampant at night, and what she couldn't accept the most was the dry toilets. Everything here had nothing in common with her experiences in the first eighteen years of her life.
But soon, Meng Yinyin realized that she had cried too early.
After pulling weeds in the fields for a whole day under the scorching sun and then fainting from the sun, she was helped back to the dormitory by a female educated youth she knew, feeling sore and weak all over. Suddenly, she felt that the tattered windows in the dormitory looked particularly beautiful.
Without having to work, the dormitory instantly becomes a paradise!
It doesn’t matter if you live in a shabby place, as long as it can shelter you from the wind and rain. But going to work is life-threatening!
But no matter how crazy Meng Yinyin was, she still had to go to work, otherwise she would get no work points and no food to eat.
Moreover, as educated youth who had been sent to work in the countryside, their household registration had been transferred to the local brigade, so naturally, their food rations were also under the management of the brigade.
New educated youth like Meng Yinyin had just arrived at the brigade and had no work points left, so their food rations were temporarily loaned to them by the brigade, which would then be deducted from their work points during the autumn harvest.
So even if Meng Yinyin was extremely reluctant to work, she had to grit her teeth and go to the fields. Otherwise, she would have to eat the food from other teams for no reason and without paying anything in return. Meng Yinyin thought she was not that shameless.
Unfortunately, no matter how hard she tried, even though she worked harder than she went to school, she only earned five work points at most, which was twice as much as the full ten points per day. She was even worse than some of the half-grown children in the team.
The work points were so difficult to describe that every day when the scorekeeper came to her, he had to sigh to the sky, as if he was trying to sort out his feelings, and then he would write down the work points Meng Yinyin had earned that day with a look of regret.
Every time she encountered such a scene, Meng Yinyin could only stand aside with a red face, accepting all kinds of gazes from all directions.
God knows she has tried her best to work, but the fact is that she is really not cut out for it.
She didn't have enough strength to plow the land, she didn't know how to plant rice seedlings, and she would be dizzy from the sun pulling weeds, so in the end she could only go to collect grass for pigs, and then be laughed at by those little brats!
But despite this, she still insisted on going to work every day and worked diligently. As a result, she got countless blisters on her hands and even her skin was tanned.
How come no one can see her efforts and sacrifices
Meng Yinyin felt really wronged.
Moreover, everyone has their own expertise, and the field she is good at is not things like farming. If work points can be earned by playing the piano, chess, calligraphy, painting, singing and dancing, she will definitely earn hundreds of work points a day, and she is sure that no one in the entire team can compare to her!
Humph, then it will be her turn to laugh at those little brats!
However, this can only be a beautiful ideal. The reality is that eating is the top priority in the countryside. Other spiritual needs are nothing and are not as valuable as a few wild vegetables.
So after staying in the team for ten days, Meng Yinyin has gone from being extremely ashamed at first to lying down and allowing herself to be ridiculed for having become the most incompetent and useless person in the entire team.
Sometimes she would even try to find joy in the midst of hardship by thinking that the captain might find a suitable job for her because she was such a hopeless case. That would be great!
Oh, when will she be able to stop working? She really can’t stand it anymore!
Just as Meng Yinyin was praying that the team leader could assign her an easy job today, a group of educated youth also gathered at the village dam.
Before going to work every day, the leader of the Nanjiao Brigade would ask everyone to gather here, then briefly talk about the day's progress, assign tasks to everyone, and finally shout a few slogans before disbanding.
The educated youth lived together, so they were used to traveling together. From afar, a group of educated youth were walking towards the dam, and the local members who had been waiting at the dam subconsciously looked over there.
At first glance, my attention was attracted by the slender figure in the middle.
The figure was lowering his head, his left hand constantly stroking his right arm, as if he was scratching something. Under the morning light, the slender arm was as crystal clear as the finest jade, so white that it was dazzling.
As the sight moves upwards, one can see a small and delicate chin, lips as pink as peach blossoms, and large, clear and bright eyes on the tip of a pretty nose. When they look into each other's eyes, no one can help but be attracted and obsessed by them.
According to the gossipy aunties who have never been to school in the team, this look is simply that of a living demon, or a fox spirit that specializes in sucking people's souls!
But in the minds of other young men in the team, she is called a celestial fairy, a fairy who descended from heaven to the earth!
An auntie nearby saw that her son's eyes were almost glued to Meng Yinyin, so she couldn't help but pinch her son hard and scolded him angrily, "What are you looking at! If you look again, I'll dig your eyes out!"
"Mom, what are you doing? I'm just taking a look..." The young man looked embarrassed when his own mother pointed it out to him.
"Just a look. Don't think I don't know what you're thinking. I'm telling you, that kind of person can never enter our house. He can't be carried by the shoulders or hands. If you marry him in, the whole family will have to serve him. It's so boring!"
"Mom, mom, someone is coming, stop talking..."
The young man noticed Meng Yinyin walking towards him from the corner of his eye, and his face turned red with embarrassment. Although he knew that there was no possibility for him and Meng Yinyin, he still didn't want to lose face in front of her, so he could only desperately pull his old mother's sleeve to make her shut up.
After a lot of pleading, the old mother finally shut up when Meng Yinyin passed by. Seeing that Meng Yinyin's face looked the same as before and seemed not to have heard those bad words, the young man felt relieved.
But Meng Yinyin had no problem with her ears, and the auntie's voice was quite loud due to her excitement, so it was difficult for her not to hear it.
The reason why I had no reaction was simply because I was too lazy to care, but I still felt angry when I thought about it.
He doesn't want to marry her. Humph, she doesn't even think highly of her and her son!
The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. After she stood still, Meng Yinyin couldn't help but glare at the aunt.
She is already so miserable, and there are still people saying bad things about her. It's really too much!
But who would have known that as soon as she turned to where the mother and son were standing, she found that the person standing there had disappeared, and instead there was a tall man. He was very tall and wore a coarse cloth coat. His exposed arms were slender and strong, with clear muscle lines. It was not difficult to see that it was a body full of strength.
Not only that, the man also had an extremely handsome face, but his expression was a little cold.
Noticing that Meng Yinyin was looking at him, the man just glanced at her indifferently, then looked away, not caring why she was looking at him with anger.
However, Meng Yinyin realized that she had directed her anger at the wrong person and felt a little embarrassed.
But the man looked like someone who was not easy to deal with. She hesitated for a moment and decided to pretend nothing had happened.
On the stage, after the team leader finished his routine talk about today's arrangements, the members below spontaneously began to shout slogans to start work.
At this moment, a middle-aged man suddenly walked towards the captain with a smile, apparently asking the captain for help. The captain frowned and seemed reluctant, but finally nodded in agreement.
When everyone finished shouting slogans and were about to go to work, the team leader suddenly called everyone.
"Everyone, wait a moment. I have one more thing to say. Tomorrow, Lu Dashan's eldest daughter is getting married, and we need to set up a few tables. If you are free, go and have a seat. Okay, okay, now that we have finished talking, it's time to get back to work."
It was the first time that the captain talked about anything other than work during an assembly. He felt very upset, but he could not resist Lu Dashan's constant requests. Considering their decades-long friendship, he had to tell the story again.
As soon as he finished speaking, before everyone could come to their senses and discuss the matter, the captain added another sentence.
"Also, Meng Zhiqing and Lu Chen, please stay for a while."
Meng Yinyin, who had just taken a step forward, said: "..."
Realizing that she was once again singled out by the captain for "education", Meng Yinyin's face turned red, and then she lowered her head very skillfully. Under those curious or contemptuous gazes, she walked to the side with a fearless attitude, waiting for the captain's upcoming criticism and education.
Because she was so absorbed in this matter, she didn't notice that there was another person who was left behind like herself. She just twirled her fingers nervously, wondering what the captain would say next.
The captain came over quickly. He really wanted to criticize Meng Yinyin harshly, but when he saw the little girl carefully raise her head with anxiety written all over her big watery eyes, his anger was immediately extinguished.
But even though he was soft-hearted, he still had to say what he had to say, otherwise how could he be worthy of the title of captain.
"Meng Zhiqing, I think the educated youth who came with you have already adapted to life here. As for you, your attitude is correct, but I believe you know the progress. If you continue like this, you may not even be able to pay for the food rations of the brigade."
Upon hearing this, Meng Yinyin was unable to refute and could only lower her head again and said weakly.
"sorry… "
But if she had a choice, she didn't want to be a "rotten apple", but she really couldn't bear the hardship, at least not in the short term.
After all, eighteen years of pampered life cannot be changed in just ten days or half a month.
Meng Yinyin was very melancholy and desperate.
Maybe she should consider the last method her mother left her: finding a good man to marry
The captain didn't know what she was thinking. He didn't look into Meng Yinyin's eyes, lest he soften his heart again. Then he said in a tough tone: "This is not a solution, so I plan to find someone to take care of you alone so that you can adapt to labor as soon as possible."
When the new educated youth arrived before, the team followed the previous practice and let the old educated youth lead the new ones. There had been no problems in the past few years, so the team leader naturally thought that this batch of new educated youth would not cause any problems.
Who knew that God would give him a difficult problem by sending him Meng Yinyin, a lazy and ignorant girl.
While other educated youth had begun to catch up with others, she was still stagnant.
The team leader went to talk to Meng Yinyin specifically and also secretly supervised her work. In the end, he found that this girl had a positive attitude and worked very seriously. However, when he saw the horrible land, there was only one sentence in his mind - she is really not cut out for this kind of work!
This is the first time the captain has encountered such a situation. He has talked and taught, but it just doesn't work!
And every time he left Meng Yinyin alone to educate her, looking at her pitiful appearance as she lowered her head and listened attentively to the lecture, to be honest, the captain felt inexplicably guilty.
However, this feeling of guilt finally turned into complete fear after an old sow in the team had diarrhea after eating the pig grass that Meng Yinyin picked yesterday.
There were actually a lot of vines mixed in with the pig grass she brought back!
If pigs eat that stuff, they will either feel weak at best or have diarrhea like the unlucky old sow yesterday!
It would be absolutely impossible to let her adapt slowly like this. Even if he and the rest of the team could accept it, the old sows in the pen would probably not be able to bear it.
So the team leader thought about it over and over all night last night, and finally decided to find someone to teach Meng Yinyin step by step. Compared with other educated youth who only need to watch others do farm work a few times to learn, Meng Yinyin, who has extremely lacked farming knowledge, must find a teacher to teach her one-on-one.
I have to teach her not only about various crops, but also how to farm. If there is time, I have to teach her how to distinguish edible wild vegetables and plants.
Otherwise, even if she worked in the brigade for half a year or a year, she might not be able to earn enough to eat.
Find someone to take you alone
Meng Yinyin raised her head instantly, blinked her big eyes and asked subconsciously: "Captain, who will take me?"
Hearing her ask this, the team leader thought that she was not opposed to this matter, and he felt relieved. He knew that Comrade Meng Zhiqing still had a bright future.
I had no idea that Meng Yinyin was just simply curious.
The next second, he turned around and shouted to another figure standing not far away: "Lu Chen, come over and say hello to Meng Zhiqing."